Dylan Pierce

Name: Dylan Pierce 
Current Job: Head of Trust & Security
Favorite restaurant in town? Ninja City
Favorite thing about Cleveland? Nothing is given in Cleveland. The people are hardworking, kind and have a great sense of humor.

Q: Dylan, you work at RVShare. What does your company do and what do you do as Head of Trust and Security at the company? RVshare is the largest RV rental marketplace - we're like the Airbnb of RV's. As Head of Trust and Security, my job is to ensure a frictionless but verified transaction between renters and owners. Peer to peer marketplaces are still a new concept, and there are still unchartered waters for the industry.

I have set up and continue to adjust our tools, processes and training based on the newest trends we see in the marketplace. We've employed not only data-driven aka machine learning algorithms to detect suspicious behavior, but design safeguards that reduce risk but without burdening our customers. It's a challenge and the bad actors are always innovating their methods. It really is a game of cat and mouse, but the constant evolution of the game is what makes it exciting.

Q: Before that, you were at Quantifize Solutions, what did you do there and how was your experience being a remote worker as your first job? I operated my own small software consulting agency for a few years. For Quantifize I built their MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and iterated it for their customers. It was a social media response and management tool much like Buffer but targeted for college campuses or campus-like areas.

It was exciting to be able to have the flexibility to work from anywhere and I took full advantage of it. I worked from beaches, campgrounds, in-flight; as long as I had a wifi connection and my laptop I was productive and happy. Being a solo software agency definitely had its perks.

Then my magic mirror tutorial went viral and I was in that business for a while. But that's another story.

Q: You help organize the We Make the Internet meetup, what is the event's purpose and how would readers get involved if interested? Dave, co-organizer of We Make the Internet Meetup, and I's issue with technology-related meetups is that they're hyper isolated. They're dedicated to individual career paths, software, languages, frameworks, etc. We both enjoy going to those types of events. However, we believe that once and a while we need to drop those labels and network together as simply internet contributors.

For our events you don't need to have a deep background in a super-specific piece of technology or industry, there are so many deep rabbit holes out there that are dedicated to these niches. We want to keep things above the ground and relatable. Our idea of a good event is when you can relate or learn a new perspective from the presenter and you don't share a job title with them.

You don't necessarily have to be a developer, hacker, designer, data analyst, marketer, product person - but I bet you'll meet at least one of those types of people there. The Cleveland Tech community is bigger than you think! And we hope to help start some connections for you that make it even better.

If you're interested in joining feel free to join our meetup: https://www.meetup.com/make-the-internet/

We're always interested in sharing their stories, that's what makes the group great. If you're interested in speaking, please contact me (me@dylanjpierce.com) or Dave (iamdavekiss@gmail.com).

Q: How have you seen fraud and bad actor attacks get more sophisticated and what can companies do to help prevent these types of attacks? Just when you think you've seen every trick a bad actor could possibly pull in your system - they find the most surprising and creative ways to exploit it. I have so many stories that are stranger than fiction.

However your business; regardless of the industry, there is a common set of methods you can use to thwart or drastically minimize you and your customer’s risk. You have key advantages the bad actors don't - which include facets like incident reporting & logging, analytics, verification, documentation, training and ultimately system design.

If you implement even just basic verification processes and feedback loops, your fraud rate will decrease dramatically. Remember, most fraudsters are lazy. They are looking for the lowest hanging fruit. It's not just about defending your customers against them, but making the effort of pulling a scam or crime so time consumingly difficult that they will look for softer targets.

Q: What was it like living in a tiny house?

Building and living in our tiny house was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. My wife and I spent a year of nights & weeks to complete it. There were times we really didn't think we could finish it. But we pulled through eventually and spent 2 years living in it and traveling the country - another perk of the option of working remotely.

We loved going to new places, seeing the sights, meeting new people and of course trying new food. But currently, I'm very happy to have a permanent address to call home and seeing my family and friends. Yea there wasn't a lot of space in the tiny house, but my wife, cat and I managed to live in 240 square feet and we have very fond memories of it.

Dylan’s email is me@dylanjpierce.com, read his blog at dylanjpierce.com, and follow him on Twitter @ctrlaltdylan